Newberry to Newberry: Recipe exchange

Happy spring, Newberry, S.C.! Up north, spring came early and we are nearly convinced it’s here to stay.

Almost all the snow is gone, and our lawns are showing a hint of green. The sand hill cranes are returning, the maple season is winding down, and the days are only going to get more delicious. Andrew Wigger, editor of your Newberry Observer, and I are sharing local recipes in the paper this week. He sent us a recipe for liver nips, which he assures us are part of your local cuisine.

Up here, we enjoy pasties (please say PAST-eez), which are meat hand pies that are unrealistically large to be eaten by hand. They arrived here in the 1800s, when Cornish miners introduced them, and have been popular ever since.

Pasties are served in a crust that’s soft but not flaky and the flavor inside is subtle. One flavor tends to rule a traditional pasty, and that’s the flavor of rutabaga.

For that reason, some of us avoid pasties, or eat the alternative ones filled with chicken and broccoli or some other mixture.

There is great debate as well over what to serve with a pasty: ketchup or gravy? The divide is as strong as the rift between local Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers fans. Neither side understands the other.

In any case, pasties are a local treasure. They’re tedious to make, so many of us buy them in bulk when they are featured in a local fundraiser. One such fundraiser finished last month and volunteers had to fill orders for 3,500 pasties.

Here’s a recipe for classic beef pasties. It makes about six.

For the crust:

3 cups flour

1 cup shortening

Pinch of salt

1 cup ice water

Filling:

8 ounces ground beef

4 ounces rutabaga, diced

1 medium carrot, diced

1 small onion finely chopped

1 small russet potato, cut into small cubes

¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped

Pepper to taste

One egg, beaten

Make crust by combining flour, shortening, and salt. Drizzle in the water and gently stir dough until it makes a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for an hour. Preheat oven to 350º. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix raw beef, rutabaga, carrot, potatoes, onion, parsley, salt, and pepper. Set aside.

Cut chilled dough into six even pieces, about five ounces each. Form each piece into a ball. Roll individually on a floured surface until the dough makes an eight-inch circle. Spoon a sixth of the filling onto one half of each dough circle. Fold the dough over to cover the mixture. Seal by rolling top and bottom edges together and pinch or crimp with a fork. Place three small slashes on top of each pasty to vent. Brush egg wash on top.

Bake for about an hour and 15 minutes, or until top is light brown.

Serve with ketchup. Or gravy. Stick to your guns here. That’s what we do.

These are easily frozen and reheated later. They’re often individually wrapped in aluminum foil and dispersed that way.